Forty-five US states have adopted the Common Core, a set of standards that spell out what US public school students learn in each grade, from kindergarten to graduation. How would you match up? Test yourself on everything from Ovid to Shakespeare to see how familiar you are with the novels, short stories, plays, and poems that are among the titles that today's 9th and 10th graders may be asked to read.

I hate CSM. It takes too long to process the quizes and it kills Internet Explorer most of the time. I restarted it three times and couldn't get through it. I was doing pretty good. I got to about 27 the one time. I had read 25% and heard of all but three.

Frankly being well-read is more than reading from one's own country. Of course, I'm a little negligent on my own country. I don't believe for one second that I'm well-read, but I think I'm past rare and into the medium range now.

Certainly it is. My point was simply that authors who are regarded as "essential reading" in one culture are not necessarily so in another. Eg, I suspect that rather few British people have read Steinbeck, despite his (justifiable) fame in the US. I would (at the risk of modesty) consider myself to be extremely well-read, especially when it comes to the classics, but I must confess that I've never read any of his work.

They sure have changed what you read in high school. I was in honors and AP English in high school, I received college credit for my English classes in high school. I am not recognizing a good number of the books.

Certainly it is. My point was simply that authors who are regarded as "essential reading" in one culture are not necessarily so in another. Eg, I suspect that rather few British people have read Steinbeck, despite his (justifiable) fame in the US. I would (at the risk of modesty) consider myself to be extremely well-read, especially when it comes to the classics, but I must confess that I've never read any of his work.

I'd completely agree. Essential does vary from country to country. That's a lot of what is great about MobileRead. We get recommendations from readers in many different countries and backgrounds. I constantly ask my friends from other countries what they would suggest I read.

I think you need to read Steinbeck. I was amazed by Cannery Row last year. As a Canadian I need to read Mordecai Richler, Margaret Atwood and Robertson Davies, all of whom I haven't read anything by. But then they weren't on our reading lists when I went to school.

Perhaps we should all pick out own list of 37 books, rather than someone else's. It's funny not to get "credit" for classics that aren't on this list. No points for Don Quixote! No points for Triant Lo Blanc! :-) At worst, I'm not reading the same books that are being assigned to 10th graders. That doesn't mean I'm less well-read.

Perhaps we should all pick out own list of 37 books, rather than someone else's. It's funny not to get "credit" for classics that aren't on this list. No points for Don Quixote! No points for Triant Lo Blanc! :-) At worst, I'm not reading the same books that are being assigned to 10th graders. That doesn't mean I'm less well-read.

Very good point. I think Gone With the Wind and Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice and Anna Karenina should count for something...